bagwell, english, duffy at st. bona
Eric Jacobs
11
Winner VMI VMI 8-2, 2-1 NEC
9
Cleveland State CSU 3-7, 1-2 NEC
Winner
VMI VMI
8-2, 2-1 NEC
11
Final
9
Cleveland State CSU
3-7, 1-2 NEC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
VMI VMI 4 3 3 1 11
Cleveland State CSU 2 3 2 2 9

Game Recap: Lacrosse |

VMI holds off Cleveland State for eighth win of season

Keydets continue upward winning trend for fifth consecutive season

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ahead 7-5 at the half, the VMI lacrosse team continued to fight and maintain its lead as the Keydets held off host Cleveland State for an 11-9 victory Saturday afternoon at Krenzler Field in Cleveland, Ohio.
 
With the win, the Keydets improve to 8-2 overall and 2-1 in Northeast Conference play while the Vikings fall to 3-7, 1-2 in conference.
 
The eight wins is the most since the 1995 season when VMI earned nine wins and is the most Division I wins in the program's 42- year history. It also marks the fifth consecutive season of improving records as VMI earned one win in 2021, three in 2022, six in 2023, seven in 2024 and have now won eight in 2025, currently the only team in the country accomplishing the feat.
 
It is also VMI first ever win over the Vikings to improve to 1-4 in the all-time series.
 
 
VMI Head Coach James Purpura
"I'm so incredibly proud of this group. What a gutsy effort. We've faced a lot of adversity this season and had a few guys go down this week with injuries, sickness, etc. and not once did they make an excuse or flinch. It continues to be the next-man-up mentality. We found a way to ultimately get it done.

"We struggled at the face off X so we had less time of possession, but our defense did a great job all day getting some big stops. Our man-down unit killed a big two-man down advantage late and when we got in trouble Damian Levin made some big saves.

"Offensively, we had to play some younger guys - the most they've played to this point - and they did a great job stepping into roles and producing. Our attack all had at least three points to spread out the depth scoring. They made overall pretty good decisions with the ball.

"We will get back home, watch the tape and start preparing for another big conference game at home."
 
 
Game Summary
Sophomore Dayton Bagwell earned a hat trick by the end of the third quarter to put VMI up, 10-7, with one quarter to play as the Keydets held CSU to two goals in the third stanza.
 
Cleveland State's Amiri Austin cut the Vikings' disadvantage to 10-8 midway through the fourth quarter, but VMI's Jack Duncan-Bloom sealed the VMI win a goal with only 1:52 to play to put the Keydets up by three scores. Michael Care put in one more goal for the Vikings, but the Keydets held strong for the final two minutes to earn the win.
 
Key Stats
*Freshman Beau Durkin scored his first career goal to put VMI up 9-7 late in the third quarter
*Bagwell led VMI with three goals while Duncan-Bloom and Rusterucci both had two
*Matt Nichols, Austin English and Alex Baber notched the other three scores for the Keydets
*Dylan Tomarchio led the Vikings with a hat trick of his own to keep CSU within striking distance of equalizing the entire game. Austin contributed two goals for CSU
*The keepers on both sides had standout performances as both Damian Levin (VMI) and Justin Dalum (CSU) logged 15 saves apiece
*CSU went 0-4 on extra-man opportunities
*The close contest resulted in 42 shots for VMI to CSU's 39 and both teams picked up 34 groundballs
 
 
Up Next
The Keydets return home next Saturday to face league foe Detroit Mercy at noon at Drill Field No. 2.
 
 
 



 
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